Logic (9 of 10)

One of the biggest problems in IELTS essays is a lack of logic. IELTS writing needs to be detailed and accurate, and you have to hit the target, dead centre, to get a high IELTS mark (hence the picture). So, let’s start thinking everyone.

Try to work out the logical problems with the following sentences. The answers will be given and explained in the next post.

1. Teenagers are willing to be the same.
2. The water goes through rivers.
3. The diagram shows how water flows around the earth.
4. The heat from the sun makes the sea evaporate.
5. Firstly, there is melting of the snow, which falls to the ground.

Answers to Logic 8 of 10

Here are the answers to the previous post.

I will give the original illogical sentence, then my comments.

1. Another major reason for some people smoking is ….

If this reason is only for ‘some’ people, how can it be a major one? The student should take out the ‘some’.

2. Smokers don’t have the common sense to give up.

Smokers can have lots of common sense. They can be very smart people, but they are addicted to the habit. The writer should write, ‘willpower’.

3. When smokers inhale the drug, they feel pleasure.

Actually, smokers inhale smoke. So, maybe this is a collocation problem. For the drug (here = nicotine), we need to write, ‘ingest’ or ‘absorb’.

4. Nicotine is a severe addiction.

Actually, nicotine is not an addiction; it is a drug. The student needs to write,

‘Nicotine is a highly addictive drug’ or ‘Nicotine can cause strong addiction’.

5. A tax can pay for both health and the environment.

Do we pay for ‘the environment’? How much does the environment charge? Hmmmm. This sentence doesn’t work. Maybe we could write,

‘A tax can pay for improvements in health and the environment.’